Author Archives: Robert Yang

About Robert Yang

Robert Yang is an MFADT student at Parsons interested in narrative-y games. He tweets as @radiatoryang and blogs at Radiator Blog. He works primarily in the Source Engine / Unity3D, studies architecture, and makes lots of declarations about level design.

“Golem”; on the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco.

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I believe that architecture reflects game design better than any other discipline, so I’m taking an architecture criticism class taught by Pulitzer Prize-winning Paul Goldberger, the architecture critic at the New Yorker Vanity Fair. These are my essays, with a short post-mortem at the end.

The “Architecture, Design, and Judaica” public tour at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco starts with 15 more minutes of waiting as a volunteer guide named Donald recites a timeline at you with the same nagging rhythm normally reserved for dripping faucets. Then, finally, the tour moves to the lobby and begins in earnest.

“The architect, Daniel Libeskind, builds around ideas,” begins Donald.
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GDC 2012 Education: “Incubating Indie Games at University”

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I went to some of the GDC Education summit talks. I doubt Gamasutra was there, as Education talks are among the least attended at GDC, but these talks still deserve coverage, so here it is!

Jason Della Rocca headed a “game incubator” summer program at Concordia University. It was 8 weeks, from July to August, and he thinks other universities should run similar programs.

Judging from a cost-benefit analysis, he thinks the program is definitely worth it. It only cost the university about $50,000 (a $1,000 / month stipend * 11 participants + workspace rental + support from Ubisoft) which, as far as university programs go, is incredibly cheap. Benefits-wise, it helped the university’s image / brand for game design, it strengthened a relationship with Ubisoft, and it helped boost local Canadians indies by pairing them with industry mentors / advisers / networks. (One of these projects was FRACT OSC by Phosfiend Systems.) Continue reading →

A Weekend of Anthropy

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This weekend, famed game designer / book author Anna Anthropy is bringing New York City to its knees. There’ll be a lot of Parsons / NYU Game Center / Babycastles / NYC indies hangouts and events. Don’t be a stranger; come say hello!

THURSDAY:

FRIDAY:

SATURDAY:

SUNDAY:

  • Molyjam NYC Day 3, presentations + awards

GDC 2012 Education: “What Can Game Education Learn from Architecture Education”

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I went to some of the GDC Education summit talks. I doubt Gamasutra was there, as Education talks are among the least attended at GDC, but these talks still deserve coverage, so here it is!

Personally, I felt this session was a waste of my time — Parsons more or less follows the studio model that Helen Stuckey and Mark Flanagan prescribed in this talk — but it occurred to me that some people are in games programs under engineering / computer science departments, who no doubt do things differently.

The pair of speakers began with a history of architecture education. Continue reading →

What Would Molydeux? NYC game jam @ Parsons!

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http://www.whatwouldmolydeux.com/

48 HOURS TO CHANGE GAMES FOREVER
NYC site hosted by BABYCASTLES & THE NEW SCHOOL GAME CLUB
BRING ABOUT THE VISIONS OF @PeterMolydeux!

LOCATION:
12th floor lab of 6 E 16th St. (map)
(Tell the FRIENDLY front desk guards you’re there for the game jam on the 12th floor)

SUBWAY:
Union Square (4,5,6,N,Q,R,L)
14th St. (F,M)

!?!?!? SPECIAL GUESTS ?!?!?!
Probably!!!

======================================

MARCH 30 @ 7PM: kick-off & team formation
MARCH 31: work
APRIL 1: CHANGE THE GAME INDUSTRY FOREVER

Princeton Review sez Parsons is a Top Graduate Game Design School!

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The Princeton Review did a survey, as they typically enjoy doing, and guess what? Game design academics and administrators think Parsons is among the top 18 graduate game design schools! Wow!

First, we’d like to thank our excellent games track faculty Nick Fortugno and Colleen Macklin. We also want to acknowledge our close institutional bonds to Games for Change and the Institute of Play. And just… oh, wow, gosh, thank you! You really love us! You really really love us!

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GDC 2012 Party Patrol

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Parties are an important part of networking and GDC — just don’t get too carried away, or else you’ll wake up in a gas station bathroom on Friday afternoon. That said, as a public service to our community, here’s a curated list of GDC 2012 events, though there are undoubtedly many more that we missed. A longer crowdsourced list is here at “The Fellowship of GDC Parties.”

> TUESDAY

IGDA Party, 6 – 10pm, 1015 Folsom Street.
The IGDA functions are nice because you inevitably get a mix of business / industry / academics / students / everyone. Also, there are going to be acrobats or something.

POW: Indie Music & Developers Collide, 8pm – 1pm, DNA Lounge @ 375 11th St.
($5 w/ GDC badge). I’ve only ever known the DNA Lounge as the site of “Bootie” on Saturdays. Nonetheless, chiptune / electronic has been known to be awesome.

PixelJunk’s 4am, 6pm – ???, Super 7 Store @ 1427 Haight St and Masonic.
If you’re a PixelJunk fan, this’ll be the first public demonstration of 4am. They will also let you purchase t-shirts. Continue reading →

GAME CLUB FRIDAY: Physical Games + J.S. Joust tournament!

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Play the greatest PS Move game ever made, J.S. Joust, and other cool physical games at the New School Game Club night! Did we mention all game club nights are also OPEN TO THE PUBLIC?

This is the current Game Club Board’s last meeting in charge and we wanted to go out with a bang, so we’re going to stand up, move around and maybe even hit each other as we play PHYSICAL GAMES. In addition to R. Corbetta’s Shove, YaMove & some classic non-digital games including the precursor to Ninja, PDQ, we all be holding a Johann Sebastian Joust tournament. IGF Nuovo award finalist, J.S. Joust has become a club favorite, and if you have never played this beautiful no-screen game or you are an old pro eager to show off your skills, join us next Friday.

Friday, February 24th, 2012.
7:00 PM – 10:00 PM 

6 East 16th Street, 12th Floor (map)
New York City 

The Facebook event is here too: https://www.facebook.com/events/384991238183753/